The present invention relates to capacitors and inductors used in electrical circuits and in particular to an integrated capacitor and inductor sharing energy storage volumes.
Inductors and capacitors are fundamental building blocks in many common electrical devices. Unlike electrical resistors, another common building block component, inductors and capacitors can provide for electrical energy storage
Inductors provide energy storage in the form of a magnetic field in the vicinity of a current-carrying conductor. The conductor is normally formed into a coil of multiple loops to concentrate the generated magnetic flux within the coil thereby increasing the inductance and energy storage. The coil may be further wrapped about a core of high magnetic permeability, such as a ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic material, to further increase the coil's inductance.
Capacitors provide for energy storage in the form of an electric field generated between two plates of different voltage separated by an insulator. The total area between the plates and their proximity may be increased to increase the capacitance and enemy storage. The insulator between the plates may further be selected to be a dielectric material, such as a plastic or ceramic, to further increase the capacitance.
In many applications of inductors and capacitors, in both low-powered and high-powered electronics, the physical size of the inductor and capacitor may be a limiting factor in reducing the size of the circuit.
Co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 14/197,580 filed Mar. 5, 2014, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference, describes an inductor and capacitor configured to share an energy storage volume thereby substantially reducing the bulk of the device. In this regard, the capacitor may incorporate a high magnetic permeability material into its structure so that the capacitor may replace the normal high permeability core of the inductor.